The stems of a rhubarb plant are treated as fruits in the kitchen – similar to celery stalks – even though they are simply herbaceous perennials.
However, rhubarb leaves are poisonous, and as they resemble spinach, they are always cut off the stem and sent straight to the trash. Humans have been poisoned after ingesting the leaves. This actually became a particular problem during the first World War when the leaves were mistakenly recommended as a food source in Britain.
We’ve all been there: taking something in (semi-) prime condition that you know shouldn’t be taking. This post doesn’t refer to theft but instead the act of sifting through someone’s discarded goods or valuables. Specifically, this covers the act of gleaning.
One man’s refuse is another man’s refreshment.
By definition, gleaning means to gather (leftover grain or other produce) after a harvest. Generally, it pertains to those who scavenge leftovers or discarded belongings of any sort, but mainly the term focuses on foraging food – an act that has a history of stemming back to biblical times. In the Books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, farmers should leave corners of their fields unpicked and refrain from picking up harvested crops that have been dropped (or “gleanings”); these are both acts of indirect charity as the gleanings are to be left primarily for the poor.
Eventually, Catholic European kingdoms (primarily in England and France) enforced this biblical scripture into protected law.
Today, gleaners are also referred to as “dumpster divers.” Despite the derogatory nickname, gleaners are most often than not still freely able to pick food as much as they please as long as they don’t take someone’s currently owned property. 50% food waste (Collegian quote).
Sources:
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/gleaning
https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/119231/urban-gleaning-grows-up
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain-sight/gleaning-americas-farms-unused-crops-feed-hungry-families-n181026
We’ve already talked about how artificial food coloring can be harmful towards consumers, but we neglected to show you how to make any healthier alternatives. With Spring and March currently underway, is there any better color to work with than green? Look below to see how you can make your very own natural green food coloring.
“[Flamin’] Hot Cheetos dust just got in my eye and now I’m wondering what I’ll name my guide dog.” – Random Twitter User
Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the spicier version of the famous cheese-flavored, puffed cornmeal snack.
Late 1970s
The Frito-Lay Rancho Cucamonga plant in Southern California
Richard Montañez, Mexican-born janitor
Normally, we try to avoid discussions about junk food as much as possible; their very existence is counter-intuitive to cooking and their healthy nutritional facts are essentially non-existent. However, sometimes the backstory beats the subject matter. In this case, we’re taking a look at how one man tweaked an already popular snack food and changed his career forever.
Richard Montañez was your average Mexican boy growing up Guasti, California. His dreams and aspirations laid solely on working for the town’s local factory, in due part from difficulties at school. Montañez seemed resigned to his status as an outcasted Hispanic student who struggled with English classes.
Nevertheless, Montañez realized that being different had its advantages. Case in point, he noticed that many white students often observed him eating a burrito for lunch (an oddity for American diets at the time). A few days later, he began selling burritos in the schoolyard for 25 cents apiece.
Richard Montañez – Lifelong Hustler
In 1976, he began working as a janitor at the Frito-Lay factory in the Californian city of Rancho Cucamonga at 12 years old after dropping out of school. One day, a Cheetos assembly line broke down, causing the cheese puffs to come out without their signature orange, cheesy dust. Montañez decided to scoop up a few samples and bring them home to experiment on.
Montañez became inspired by a go-to Mexican staple: elote or corn on the cob covered with butter, chile powder, lime juice, and cotija. The janitor decided to use the same ingredients but on Cheetos. His family and friends loved the result, inspiring Montañez to bring his creation to upper management.
This daunted Montañez; the man had never given a presentation in his life, let-alone one for the administrators of a Fortune 500 company. Looking to shoot for the stars, Montañez rented out a marketing book from the library, bought a $3 tie, and created his own packaging for his Cheetos calientes. When the time was ready, he unveiled his secret concoction to the board.
The president loved both Montañez’s ingenuity and initiative. For the former, he formally inducted the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos into Frito-Lay’s cheese puff product mix. For the latter, he promoted Montañez who eventually rose to executive vice president of multicultural sales at Frito-Lay. Montañez currently travels across the country, giving motivational speeches on the significance of diversity in business.
Montañez took one of the easiest tricks in the book – making an addition to a pre-existing product line – and made a fortune off of it. As of 2017, Cheetos is the leading cheese snack brand of the United States with over $1 billion in annual revenue. As a quintessential rags-to-riches story, Montañez will soon have his own Hollywood film made after him, courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures; the biopic is currently titled “Flamin’ Hot.”
For any up-and-coming dreamers, take Montañez’s words into consideration: “We’ve all been given an ability to do something great in this life.”
Sources:
Andrews, Travis M. “The Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Movie: How a Frito-Lay Janitor Created One of America’s Most Popular Snacks.” The Washington Post, 23 Feb. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/23/the-flamin-hot-cheetos-movie-how-a-frito-lay-janitor-created-one-of-americas-most-popular-snacks/.
Luviano, Tania. “Our American Dream: The Janitor Who Invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 26 Mar. 2012, latino.foxnews.com/latino/community/2012/03/26/our-american-dream-richard-montanez-janitor-invents-hot-cheeto/print.
Palmer, Joe. “Leading Cheese Snack Brands 2017 | Statistic.” Statista, 12 Jan. 2018, www.statista.com/statistics/188241/top-cheese-snack-brands/.
Pomranz, Mike. “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Were Invented by a Janitor.” Food & Wine, Time Inc., 22 June 2017, www.foodandwine.com/fwx/food/flamin-hot-cheetos-were-invented-janitor.
Than, Cynthia. “How a Mexican Janitor Invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.” Inc.com, Inc., 29 Feb. 2016, www.inc.com/cynthia-than/the-mexican-janitor-who-invented-flamin-hot-cheetos.html.
People often take note of the foods they eat based on their nutritional value. For example, a health-conscious person might opt to have some yogurt as a snack instead of a handful of Swedish fish. However, the healthier option might share an unhealthy ingredient with junk food that most people wouldn’t think twice about. The ingredient in question is food coloring.
Food coloring has been around since Ancient Egypt, when candy makers added natural extracts and wine to improve their products’ appearance. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, many people became dependent on foods produced by others at low costs; as a result, food factories turned to synthetic coloring additives (some of them created for textiles) to mix with their mass-produced goods. Modern consumers did not notice the dangers of synthetic food coloring until 1976, when Mars discontinued red M&Ms for a decade after finding that its Red 2 food coloring was directly linked to causing cancer.
Since 2010, several countries in Europe have banned artificial dyes and require foods using any still-approved unnatural colors to prominently display warning labels on packaging. Those labels are required to state that eating artificially colored foods might be linked to behavioral issues in children. American companies including Kellogg’s, Kraft, and McDonald’s have stopped using artificial dyes abroad but continue to sell foods with such questionable ingredients to the U.S. market.
According to the FDA in 2007, Americans were consuming five times more artificial food colorings than they were in 1955. As a result, there is an 11% average of children between the ages of 4 and 17 that have been diagnosed with ADHD/ADD in the U.S. while around 5% of Western European children have the disorder. Even though the brain disorder is still prevalent in Europe, American children tend to have it in spades due to the brand presence of food producers; Kellogg and Kraft have household recognition throughout the states whereas in Europe, they have little selling power.
Two major food colorings: Yellow 5 and Red 40. The latter is the most popular food dye in the world, used in cosmetics and drugs along with foods.
Let’s look at two of the most popular food colorings: Yellow 5 and Red 40. Yellow 5 is based in both coal tar and a crude oil runoff containing benzene. This food dye is known to cause hyperactivity in children, severe allergic reactions to those sensitive to aspirin, and a possible predisposition towards asthma. Red 40 comes from petroleum distillates, containing assorted metals such as aluminum and cochineal beetles. Children are especially sensitive to Red 40 and have exhibited temper tantrums, jitteriness, uncontrollable crying, and ADHD.
All in all, it boils down to food companies trying to save a buck or two. People expect their food to have an appropriate color, but they don’t expect that color to have negative long-term side effects. Think twice when buying your children certain sweets: too little of them and they might be jumping up on the walls; too much of them and they might adversely affect their brains.
Sources:
Daily, Alternative. “The Top 5 Worst Artificial Colors.” Alternative Daily, 28 Apr. 2013, www.thealternativedaily.com/top-5-worst-artificial-colors/.
Decker, Ray, and Naomi Richfield-Fratz. “Color Additives: FDA’s Regulatory Process and Historical Perspectives.” U S Food and Drug Administration Home Page, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 12 Oct. 2003, www.fda.gov/forindustry/coloradditives/regulatoryprocesshistoricalperspectives/.
Ettinger, Jill. “Banned in Europe, Food Coloring Linked to Behavior Problems.” Organic Authority, 3 Mar. 2014, www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/banned-in-europe-food-coloring-linked-to-behavior-problems/.
Kim, Susanna. “11 Food Ingredients Banned Outside the U.S. That We Eat.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 26 June 2013, abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/Food/11-foods-banned-us/story?id=19457237#1.
Melina, Remy. “Why Were Red M&M’s Discontinued for a Decade?” LiveScience, Purch, 10 Feb. 2011, www.livescience.com/33017-why-were-red-mms-discontinued-for-a-decade.html.
Did you know that even if your food label says “trans fat: 0 grams,” it may still contain trans fat. Yeah…seriously.
This is because, due to some extremely idiotic labeling rules, food companies only need to list trans fat content if the food contains 0.5 grams or more per serving!
So, if a food contains 0.4999 grams of trans fat in one serving, it will say “Trans Fat: 0 grams” on the label. Yes, it is super crazy dumb.
Even worse is the fact that many of the foods that do this then go the extra mile to print “0g Trans Fat” in big bold letters somewhere on the front of the package to really entice you to buy it.
Pretty slick, isn’t it? And then all you need to do is eat a few servings of a food like this and you will have unknowingly eaten a couple of grams of trans fat all while thinking you haven’t eaten any at all.
Luckily, there is a way to spot the foods that do this (and there are MANY of them). Check the ingredients for the words “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated.” If those words show up somewhere in the ingredients (typically followed by an oil of some sort), then you know that food contains some amount of trans fat no matter what lies the label tells you.
Just another reason to always read the ingredients before buying/eating an item.
Remember, margarine is trans fat. To quote the great American thinker George Carlin: “It is bullshit, and it is bad for you!”
Written by Pascal Dionot
Did you know that there is an acronym to remember everything that is in a Cobb Salad?
EAT COBB
Eggs
Avocado
Tomato
Chicken
Onion
Bacon
Blue Cheese
Parsley, oh parsley, you wondrous herb!
You raise any dish’s caliber from just mediocre to superb!
With bright green leaves, curly or flat,
Your versatility amazes us, and we are grateful for that.
You freshen our breath just when we need it most,
Like if we eat too much garlic, or a big, heavy roast.
And you keep us healthy and strong, with vitamins A, B, and C,
Plus calcium and iron, too – all that, completely fat-free!
Those ancient Greeks knew of your worth, crowning winners with your leaves,
Figuring you were good enough for mere mortals if you were good enough for Hercules.
And those Romans found use for you even when facing death,
Sprinkling you to freshen corpses, just like you freshen our breath!
Yes, your wonders are many, and without you no chef could live.
If it seems we take you granted sometimes, we ask you to forgive.
For we know that without you, there’d be no bouquet garni,
And the world would have to live without wonderful tabbouleh.
You’re the ultimate team player, helping other foods excel and bask in glory.
But while they may get all the fame, do not doubt that we know the true story.
For without you, they’d be just another soup, another vegetable on the plate.
But it is thanks to your panache that they meet another fate…
They rise to culinary heights previously unknown,
Then take all the credit with an ego quite overblown.
So, dear parsley, with eternal gratitude we offer you our praise,
And with reverence most high, to you our toast we raise!
“Hey, did you every try dunking a potato chip in champagne? It’s real crazy!” – Marilyn Monroe, The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Potato chips are thin slices of potatoes that have been deep fried or baked until crispy and crunchy.
August 24th, 1853
Moon’s Lake House, a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York
George Speck aka George Crum, a half-black, half-Native American cook
Potatoes have been around since the dawn of time. As the fourth largest food crop (following maize, wheat, and rice), this starchy crop makes up an integral part of the world’s food supply. It’s surprising to know that potato chips only came into circulation nearly two centuries ago.
Enter George Crum, a chef at Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs. Crum was an average 19th century chef – eager to please and partial to petty revenge. One day, he encountered a customer who had a beef with his cooking. Specifically, the customer claimed Crum’s French fries to be too thick, too soggy, and/or not salted well enough. As luck would have it, this request came in during a particularly busy restaurant rush. Crum sliced the potatoes thinner and dried them out longer, but the man kept sending them back each time.
The face of a chef who was pushed too far.
Like any self-respecting chef, Crum became reasonably pissed-off. He decided to take this picky patron to school – culinary school. Crum cut the potatoes into paper thin slices and over-fried them purposely so that the potato would appear incredibly crispy. He topped it off by liberally seasoning the potatoes with twice as much salt as he would normally use in order to make them especially unappetizing. It is noted that Crum used this “You don’t like my cooking? Well, taste this” tactic often whenever he dealt with a picky customer.
Once he served this revenge-laced concoction, Crum became surprised to learn that the customer actually enjoyed it. Deciding to turn payback into a profit, Crum began marketing his new creation as “Saratoga Chips” on the Moon’s Lake House menu. Soon after, customers began visiting in droves to try Crum’s hottest new sensation.
Years later, Crum opened his own restaurant, Crum’s, using the money he earned from Moon’s Lake House cooking Saratoga chips. At his new abode, Crum implemented a new policy where a basket of potato chips was placed on every table. Despite his success, Crum never patented his invention, instead allowing entrepreneurs like Herman Lay to swoop in and mass produce potato chips.
In 1973, the St. Regis Paper company, a noted packaging manufacturer for chips, claimed that Crum’s customer was Cornelius Vanderbilt. The truth of this statement remains unknown to this day.
Sources:
“George Crum – Inventor of Potato Chips.” Famous Black Inventors, 26 June 2013, www.black-inventor.com/George-Crum.asp.
Ramakrishnan, Rohan. “7 Great Foods (That Were Created Thanks to Dick Moves).”Cracked, 19 Sept. 2010, www.cracked.com/article_18744_7-great-foods-that-were-created-thanks-to-dick-moves.html.
Turcotte, Matthew W. “Potato Chips – Good To The Last ‘Crum.’” A POP CULTURE ADDICT’S GUIDE TO LIFE, 13 Feb. 2013, popcultureaddictlifeguide.blogspot.com/2013/02/potato-chips-good-to-last-crum.html.
Everyone has their favorite cookie, and everyone has their favorite Girl Scout Cookie. Whether you prefer the chocolatey Thin Mints or the crumbly Trefoils, the Girl Scouts have you covered. This season marks the 101st year of cookie sales with no lack of challenges, however a question begs to be asked: how did these treats become so popular?
Let’s first take a look at the history behind the sweets. The first ever Girl Scout cookie sales occurred in December, 1917 by the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee Oklahoma. Five years later, The Girl Scout magazine The American Girl suggested cookie sales as a possible fundraiser for the organization. At the time, their only product came in the form of a simple sugar cookie.
Despite having to deal with sugar, flour, and butter shortages during World War II, the Girl Scouts baked and sold cookies without a hitch. By the 1950s, the Girl Scouts added three more cookies to their catalogue: “Shortbreads,” “Savannahs” (Peanut Butter Sandwich), and “Thin Mints.” By 1975, the “Samoa” was added.
Girl Scouts selling cookies in 1955
By 1978, the Girl Scouts limited the number of bakers to four to lower prices and uniform, packaging, quality, and distribution. In 1979, the cookies gained more popularity by showcasing their new logo (courtesy of famed graphic designer Saul Bass). By the 1990s, the number of Girl Scout cookie bakers decreased to two: ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers.
In recent years, the organization decided to take a more health-conscious stance. By 2005, the Girl Scouts removed trans fat from their cookies to be healthier and put nutritional information on each box. By 2015, they added the first gluten-free cookies to their product mix: Toffee-tastic (buttery cookies with toffee bits) and Trios (peanut butter, chocolate chips, and whole grain oats).
Percentage of Girl Scout Cookies by Purchase
In economic terms, Girl Scout Cookies are seasonal goods, meaning they are only sold around February each year for around six to eight weeks. The Girl Scouts claim that this is only one facet of their yearly entrepreneurship and leadership program, and that they work on other (less notable) projects throughout each year. Their scarcity gives the cookies a higher rating over other notable cookies like Oreos or Chips Ahoy, giving consumers more of an incentive to purchase Girl Scout cookies in bulk.
Branding is also a huge factor to the Girl Scouts’ success. Since Keebler currently manufactures most of their catalogue, they are able to sell similar cookies (ex: Grasshoppers) year round. However, the average buyer will flock to a name they know rather than generics – especially when that name espouses tastier treats. The very mention of Girl Scout Cookies causes people to perk their ears up like dogs ready for fresh food.
With a dozen varieties of cookies on catalogue, the Girl Scouts show no signs of stopping. What began as a local fundraising event was later refined and standardized over generations into not only a pop culture phenomenon but a nationwide sensation.
Sources:
Gibson, Morgan. “Girl Scouts Release Three New Cookies, Including Two Gluten-Free Flavors.” People Great Ideas, Time Inc., 5 Jan. 2015, greatideas.people.com/2015/01/05/new-girl-scout-cookies-gluten-free/.
“Girl Scout Cookie Statistics.” Statistic Brain, 8 Sept. 2017, www.statisticbrain.com/girl-scout-cookie-statistics/.
Picchi, Aimee. “For the Girl Scouts, Cookies Are More Important than Ever.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 12 Jan. 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/for-the-girl-scouts-cookies-are-more-important-than-ever/.
Trierweiler, John. “Girl Scout Cookies Just Got Sweeter in Arizona.” ABC15 Arizona, 20 Feb. 2018, www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/girl-scout-cookies-just-got-sweeter-in-arizona.
Versability. “The Economics of Girl Scout Cookies.” Thought for Your Penny, Brian Penny, 3 Dec. 2017, thoughtforyourpenny.com/money/business/economics-girl-scout-cookies/.